[Ackattack]

Time for another update I guess: I'll get pictures up when I get to my computer that has them on it.

I got the driver's side sheet metal all welded on. I'm in search of a different driver's side door. The one I have isn't in as good of shape as I thought it was.

On the passenger side I got the outer rocker panel removed. The pass. side door is in good shape, so I'll be able to use it.

I modified the tranny crossmember to raise the transmission up. Originally I was planning on completely making a new one, but then I decided I could modify the stock one. So I removed the rivets that hold on the upper pieces, cut the upper pieces down so that the only part that is left of them is the part that sets inside the frame rail. Then I used a piece of square tubing and welded the two together. I also used another piece of tubing to raise the tranny hieght. This should give me room to run the exhaust up above the crossmember.

I also pulled out the engine to swap over to the F-body oil pan. It gives a lot better ground clearance.

I also enlarged the holes on the headers so they will bolt up. Some of the holes were not spaced quite exactly right, and I couldn't get all of the bolts in. Should be fixed now.

I also got the brake lines ran across the front crossmember (couldn't really get them in there with the engine in the way).

Torqued all of the front suspension / steering pieces. Need to grease them and I should be good to go on the front.

Oh, I got the hole drilled in the frame for the gas filler tube to pass through.

So now I believe I'm ready to put the bed on temporarily. Hopefully that will happen this weekend. Then I can start on the tubbing process and get the wheels ordered. I'll also fabricate the gas filler setup.

The bed will have to come back off so I can do a few touch ups to the paint on the frame.


So if you look back, I started on the tear down just over a year ago. I don't really feel like I've gotten very far in a whole year. I'm hoping its just things aren't quite put back together, and I have actually made a lot of progress. I guess we'll see though.

Now that the frame / suspension / drivetrain is basically done, hopefully I can bust out the rest of the rust repair and body work and get it off to get some of the other things taken care of (state inspection for the different VINs on the cab/frame, exhaust installed, alignment, and paint)